Long-time writer for leading papers says his criticism got him blackballed
Badih Chayban
Special to The Daily Star

A visiting French journalist told a Beirut audience Friday that he was blackballed by media outlets in France for his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government.
Speaking at a news conference at the Press Federation headquarters in Beirut, Alain Chevalerias described his unhappy experience as a journalist covering the Middle East, while facing what he described as “Zionist pressure.”
Chevalerias, who has worked as a freelance journalist for many French publications over the last 30 years, said he had been recently stringent in his criticism of Israel and the Sharon government.

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Although editors changed his articles before they were printed, Chevalerias said that, at the time, he did not suspect a conspiracy. But then he added that, at the beginning of last summer, the leading French daily, Le Figaro, suddenly stopped publishing his articles.
“I thought it was normal, until a friend called me and said, ‘Don’t touch Israel, leave it for others. You are now punished,’” Chevalerias said.
The freeze on his work extended not only to the journals Chevalerias used to write for, but reached a group of lawyers he freelanced for.
“Suddenly, on June 26, I received a letter putting an end to (this business) relationship,” Chevalerias said.
In blaming supporters of Israel for his professional misfortunes, he said there was a difference between “Jews” and “Zionists. He said the “Zionists” were the ones trying to silence him, whereas many of his Jewish friends were helping him try to get his jobs back.

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He added that he had applied on multiple occasions for reinstatement at Le Figaro, but that he has had no luck.

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Regarding the episode, he said he learned that, “even if saying the truth is hard and has severe consequences, every journalist has the duty to report not only what he sees, but also what he believes.”
Press Federation president Mohammed Baalbaki, who spoke during the news conference, said that Chevalerias’ case was of crucial local importance, because he shared the same enemy as the Lebanese public: the Zionists.
Baalbaki said that “Zionists” were active worldwide in “suppressing free media and covering the truth.”
He added that this was harming not only the Arab cause, but also international journalists seeking to report accurate information on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

PS: Le figaro is a liberal (capitalist ) newspaper that used to be owned by an goy (non-Jew) named Hersan. After his death, the Jews (via the American branch of the Murdoch group) succeeded in purchasing this newspaper, a few years ago.

PS. 2 There remains a difference between America and Europe is that European countries still have national, non-private, public TV and radio chanels, which are thus not owned by the Jewish lobby , and on which there is a little more freedom, e. g. they can show things about occupied Palestine that the Jews would never let though in the private media . Whereas the private main media, being all owned by the Jewish lobby, completely fall under the Jewish rule (or call it dictatorship?).

The traditional enemies of truth may own/control all the media, but so far they haven't figured out how to shut down the net. They'd better get cracking, because terabytes of truth are moving all around the world!